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Campus Equity Week: standing up for adjunct faculty rights

Posted on 11/01/13 at 2:39pm

Educators, community members and college students are coming together to stand up for adjunct faculty rights during Campus Equity Week.

It’s a growing problem. Many higher learning institutions, especially community colleges, are replacing full-time faculty jobs with adjuncts as federal funds for higher education begin to dry up. Across the country, adjunct faculty now represents almost two-thirds of all faculty, with that figure reaching 70 percent at community colleges.

While adjunct faculty members are expected to perform the job of a full professor, these hard-working educators are only given temporary contracts and must deal with horrible working conditions. Although most adjunct faculty have spent years of their lives and tens of thousands of dollars obtaining doctorates or other terminal degrees, the average salary of adjunct faculty is only $16,200 a year — more than $4,000 less than the average retail cashier in America. In the majority of campuses where adjunct faculty members are not unionized, health insurance and other benefits are almost unheard of.